Mechanical Engineer; Instruments

Position: Staff Mechanical Engineer (Flexible Instruments)
Company Description It started with a simple idea: what if surgery could be less invasive and recovery less painful? Nearly 30 years later, that question still fuels everything we do  a global leader in robotic-assisted surgery and minimally invasive care, our technologies like the da Vinci surgical system and Ion have transformed how care is delivered for millions of patients worldwide.

Were a team of engineers, clinicians, and innovators united by one purpose: to make surgery smarter, safer, and more human. Every day, our work helps care teams perform with greater precision and patients recover faster, improving outcomes around the world.

The problems we solve demand creativity, rigor, and collaboration. The work is challenging, but deeply meaningful because every improvement we make has the potential to change a life.

The Future Forward organization is Intuitive’s advanced concepts group. We explore emerging technologies, prototype next-generation solutions, and build software experiences that shape the future of robotic-assisted surgery.

If you're ready to contribute to something bigger than yourself and help transform the future of healthcare, you'll find your purpose here.

Job Description Primary Function of Position The Staff Mechanical Engineer, Advanced Energy, will serve as a technical and design lead for the development of advanced energy products and/or sub-systems s role is responsible for driving early concept exploration through commercialization translating ambiguous clinical/technical needs into robust architectures, and leading rapid prototype iteration to de-risk key technical challenges. They will have both the technical depth to resolve complex mechanical, material, and manufacturing design issues as well as the ability to work in an interdisciplinary team to troubleshoot and root cause higher level system issues.

They must have strong technical depth in relevant areas and have a track record of successful product development efforts. Using their subject matter expertise, exceptional communication skills and cross-functional collaboration, they will investigate and develop advanced energy applications for novel clinical applications across our robotic surgical systems.

This person thrives in a small, high-energy team, takes end-to-end ownership, and consistently delivers high-quality prototypes, data-driven decisions, and scalable designs. A strong sense of shared responsibility and shared reward is required as well as a commitment to high product quality.

Essential

Job Duties Work in a small, cross-functional project team to design, develop and verify new concepts for advanced energy catheters and/or flexible electromechanical instruments

Define early product architecture, interfaces, and design requirements; translate feasibility prototypes into scalable products

Develop, implement, test and document new solutions, processes, and designs according to corporate standards and departmental operating procedures

Hands-on assembly and testing of devices to support proof of concept, design development, pre-clinical and V&V activities

Investigate and determine root cause of emerging design or manufacturing defects/failures.

Development and documentation of design and manufacturing documentation including inspection procedures, assembly instructions, test methods, purchase specifications, BOMs, part and assembly drawings using appropriate change control procedures

Collaborate with clinical engineering team to assess product concepts and do tradeoff analysis of proposed designs and feature sets Partner with testing engineering and NPI to define verification approaches, ensure design outputs are measurable, and support design transfer

Observe clinical cases and participate in interviews with clinical experts to inform designs; provide support for pre-clinical labs and clinical cases

Establish individual goals consistent with overall project goals

Performs other duties as required to support the company's overall strategy and goals

Qualifications

Required Skills and Experience Typical minimum of 12 years of relevant experience, minimum 8 years with a masters

Demonstrated success as a technical lead (and/or design lead) in cross-functional R&D teams, influencing decisions across engineering, testing, clinical, quality and manufacturing.

Demonstrated ability to originate novel concepts and rapidly convert ideas into functional prototypes to evaluate technical feasibility and clinical value

Proven track record operating in…